Hibalag
by kityang24
Summary: Witch." "Demon." This time she raised her eyes to glance at his. His ready eyes caught her gaze and locked with it for a long time. At long last, he blinked and his mouth opened into a smile. He was amused that she had an idea of what he was.


The Glass in Between

"Witch."

It was just a whisper, too soft to hear but she turned, at once recognizing the sound. Her gaze landed on the shadow of a man standing a few feet away from her. The light from the full moon danced around him, filtered by the branches of the trees that surrounded them on the forest floor. It was a clear, perfect night for anything extraordinary. It was the night of the Moon Festival.

Many people had attended the event, invited and guests, known and unknown. They flocked together and formed a crowd around them, dancing and laughing in blissful neglect. There was liquor, food, music, and entertainment of all sorts. They were all having fun.

Yet, despite their presence, they seem to fade away into nothingness, only the two of them left, only her and that shadow of a man looking at her.

Their bodies moved in an almost predictable, synchronized motion and soon enough, they were together on the middle of the forest floor. He was much taller than she was but she didn't raise her head enough to look into his eyes. Instead she looked past him, her peripheral vision catching only the shape of his face and his body. She could feel it, an aura radiating from him, engulfing her in a wary embrace. It was strange and alien. Yet, it intrigued her. He was not human after all.

"Demon."

This time she raised her eyes to glance at his. His ready eyes caught her gaze and locked with it for a long time. His amber eyes against her emerald ones bore into each other, neither which wanting to surrender. At long last, he blinked and his mouth opened into a smile. A rumble of a laugh followed after. It sounded like thunder before the rain. He was amused that she had an idea of what he was.

He wrapped his strong arms around her small waist, took her hand, and pulled her into a dance. Out in the far side of the forest floor, the unseen orchestra started playing a new song. It sounded furious and hurried with intervals of a slow beat that was almost seductive. To the sound of that new song they danced. They turned and turned, thrown from here to there, in a passionate motion of a discovered dance they both were suddenly masters in.

The music then changed into something mellow and soft. They danced slower now, closer to each other. He could feel her inaudible gasping breath on him and he could smell the strange but intoxicating perfume she was bathed in. He was mesmerized. And she was unknowingly too.

"Tell me your name."

She paused, tiptoed to his ear, smirking as she said, "Ella. Yours?"

"Noel." Her voice seemed to tickle at his ear and he slightly shivered. The action didn't go unnoticed and she laughed. It sounded like the twinkling of bells at midnight. He closed his eyes as he laid his face against her hair. She did too.

There was no warning when the clock struck 3 o' clock – the witching hour. There were no clocks of the forest. There was no indication of any change. However, despite so, there was a difference indeed. Ella slowly opened her eyes but instead of the man she was dancing with and the party she was in, she saw nothing but darkness. She was suddenly alone.

"Where am I?"

She walked a little further and noticed that there was movement right ahead. She hurried toward it but as she came near, she halted hurriedly and balked. In front of her stood a bear of a wolf, teeth bared, crouching in a fighting stance, ready to attack at any moment. It wasn't just any ordinary wolf common in the forest. It was much bigger, almost as tall as her even on its four legs. The expression on its face certainly was not that at elated of seeing her. It faced her with such furious manner as though she had done it a very grievous wrong. It was puzzling and fearful to watch and she instinctively looked down.

Her eyes widened in shock. She saw on her clasped on her wrist a bracelet made of twisted rope and on her hand a silver rapier that she was all this time unconsciously holding. They gleamed even in the darkness. However, the rapier was also dripping bright red blood into the floor, forming a small puddle beside her feet. It ran a trail toward under the wolf where from it joined the also forming puddle made by blood dripping from the wolf's chest. The wolf was already injured. She recognized now the wolf's labored breathing and an extraordinary yet familiar aura that exuded determination to overpower her.

"Why did this happen?" She tentatively said.

At the sound of her words, the wolf growled and immediately charged. Instinctively, she leapt off into the air, out of its line of attack, and landed deftly behind its back. She incidentally raised a hand to flick her hair from her face but felt instead that her cheeks were wet and that she was also unconsciously shedding tears. She was more puzzled than ever.

"Wait!"

"You ask why did this happen? " The wolf turned to face her. "You killed me."

"But, I couldn't have."

" You caused me too much pain. I loved you but it means nothing to you."

"I couldn't be the only one responsible for this."

"There's only one thing left to do."

Retrieving strength from the innermost portion of his being, he charged toward her in a motion so swift that she didn't have time to react. He landed on top of her, pinning her shoulders to the ground. Restricted of movement, she could only squirm and use her arms to push his humongous head from devouring her.

He latched his mouth into her neck. The pain came like an explosion so great that she could sense nothing but the sensation that seemed to grip her right into her core. She cried out loud, sobbing and gasping. Her mouth dribbled blood.

She could think nothing else but her survival and in that frenzied state, she realized that she was still holding on to the rapier. She raised it at once and plunged it straight right between his shoulder blades. She suddenly wanted to kill him too. He howled.

"What did you do?" He gasped.

In her midst, he began to shift and change. The wolf soon became no more and in its place, to her complete surprise and dismay, was the same man she had been dancing with. He lay against her, the rapier protruding from his back, drenching both of them in blood. He was too weak to even move. She wrapped an arm around him. She couldn't seem to believe it.

"I think I loved you too." She whispered. The realization came to her as soon as she saw who he really was. This was a vision of the future. This was going to happen.

"We're dying now." He replied, resigned. She turned to look at his face and found that he was shedding tears, sobbing even. His tears touched against her cheek, warm and strangely comforting. She kissed his cheek, along with the tears.

"Is this really the end?" She said.

Their life forces were slowly ebbing away. Her vision began to blur until she could see nothing but colors meshed together in one canvas. He was also blacking out too.

"I'm sorry." They both gasped out in unison their last breath.

The vision faded away to darkness and Ella was once more back in the forest, in Noel's embrace. Upon realizing that she was back, she stiffened and stepped away. Her action puzzled him and he cocked his head in a quizzical manner. She was looking at him as though he was a mistake the earth made into being.

"What is the matter?" He asked.

Should she take the chance? Will she be able to change the future? She was already falling and it ached to know what the end of the story will be. She shook her head.

"Nothing." She went closer to him again, laying her hands on his chest and smiled. "Dance with me?"

He laughed. "Yes."

And so they danced, on deep into the night, comfortable in each other's presence, not noticing neither the thrill of the forest that signaled the near of the next day nor the spent crowd as it dwindled to return to their homes. The unseen orchestra continued playing as long as the Moon Festival lasted even to the last minute before the first rays of the morning sun hit the waiting purplish clouds, even when only two people remained to dance to its song.

Finally, the music stopped. It was time to go.

"Goodbye."

"Farewell."

But before she could walk away, he took her hand and clasped a bracelet on her wrist. It was made of twisted rope and carved wood that glowed white in the dark, the same thing she saw in the vision. It was a charm that will help him find her, whenever and wherever she was. He didn't say a word but she knew what it was meant for. She didn't even protest. She merely smiled. He nodded.

He ran. She watched as he reached the border of the hills, his lithe body ripping itself, suddenly changing to that of a large, menacing bear-wolf that she already saw. He looked back once. Even through the far distance, his keen eyesight could still catch her standing alone among the trees. He bared his teeth and howled.

She didn't move. She didn't respond. The forest echoed his howl. She simply looked at him as he disappeared into the mountains. She turned and walked to where the orchestra was. It was she who organized the Moon Festival and she faced the unseen orchestra to thank them. They thanked her in return.

She continued on toward the town. She also changed, becoming more human now, plainer and more like the rest of the people, ready to partake once more in her normal human life. Right before she stepped into the border that separated the town and the forest, she looked back once. She smirked as she mused on a thought, turned and walked on. One day, she will be back, once again in another festival of the Moon. The future is, after all, hers to make.


End file.
